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Steelers have to sign Polamalu to be fair to Tomlin

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What a sight Troy Polamalu must have been, relaxing in the hot tub on that cold January day.
Talk about a great place, a fabulous resort, to just get away to for a few days after the Steelers played their final game of the Bill Cowher era. A whole season of 8-8 frustration, not to mention an awful lot of aches and pains, were going up with the steam from the soothing water. Polamalu's wife, Theodora, was off being pampered, getting a massage. He had a few quiet moments to himself and was at peace. It's not hard to imagine him sitting back, closing his eyes, drifting away ...
"Then this old man comes walking up," Polamalu said.
The two chatted, as people tend to do at a hot tub.
"I asked him where he's from," Polamalu said. "He said he lives all over the world. I say, 'No, seriously. What do you do?' He says, 'I own this place.' "
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa.
It was Joe Hardy.
No, there was no sign of Hardy's 22-year-old bride-to-be.
Just in case you were wondering.
"Listen, they're having a surprise 84th birthday party for me today. How would you like to come?" Hardy asked.
So that's how the Polamalus ended up as special guests at Hardy's table, along with Robin Williams, Gov. Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge, listening to Bette Midler and Christina Aguilera sing and watching all the beautiful people at the party of all parties, even if it wasn't much of a surprise for the very wealthy man of the hour.
"A pretty amazing weekend," Polamalu recalled last week. "We didn't even have clothes with us. We had to buy everything there."
It was pricey, but Polamalu can afford it.
One day soon, presumably with the Steelers, he will sign an enormous contract. Maybe it won't pay him Hardy-like money, but it will make him the highest-paid player on the team.
Don't you wish, Alan Faneca?
The Steelers might be able to get by losing one All-Pro after the coming season. That would be the unhappy Faneca, who made such an ugly scene at minicamp last weekend when he went public with his contract conundrum. But the team can't afford to lose a second great player. It has to find a way to do a new deal with Polamalu, who also will be a free agent after the season if he isn't re-signed.
If it's an either/or situation, Faneca or Polamalu, the Steelers have to go with Polamalu, who's right behind Ben Roethlisberger at the top of their most-indispensable-players list.
"He's our playmaker, our star," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said at minicamp. "We run a lot of stuff in our defense that's just for him. We can't let him go."
It's nice to think new coach Mike Tomlin has gone to the Rooneys with that same message. (maybe I just might like this guy)
Much has been said and written about the type of defense Tomlin will coach. Will he stick with the 3-4, zone-blitz scheme that Cowher preferred? Or will he slowly convert to a 4-3, cover-2 defense that he learned under Tony Dungy? It's a fascinating topic, but the bottom line never changes: Tomlin needs great players to make either defense work.
The Steelers need Polamalu to be a great defense.
"He's the best player I've ever seen at safety," Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. said last season. "He's phenomenal." (What! Coming from this egotistic *******,I'm impressed)
It was in the game at Cleveland last year that Polamalu left no doubt that he's one of the NFL's special players. On a three-play sequence in the fourth quarter, he used his incredible closing speed on first down to run down Browns quarterback Charlie Frye for a sack in front of the Steelers' bench; displayed his toughness on second down by slicing through a mass of humanity to tackle running back Jason Wright after a 2-yard gain; and showed his marvelous football instincts on third down by pulling up on a blitz and leaping to bat down Frye's pass intended for Winslow. The Browns punted, and the Steelers scored a late touchdown to win, 24-20.
That's why Foote said of Polamalu that day, "I've been playing a long time, and I've never seen anyone make plays like he makes."
And that's why Foote says now, "His presence alone out there makes you better. Playing next to him breeds confidence. Knowing he's next to you makes you stronger."
Polamalu is saying little about his contract situation. He says little about just about everything and says it very quietly. "I don't know what's going on. I'm just living. ... Only God knows what's going to happen." But Polamalu did add, "Definitely, I'd love to be here. This is home. I live here year-round. I don't think I have to make a case for that."
Surely, you like reading that more than Faneca's startling promise: "This will be my last year as a Pittsburgh Steeler." But the reality is, neither statement means much at this point of the negotiating game. To keep Polamalu, the Steelers are going to have to come up with a very big number on a contract. He might not be paying attention to the negotiations, but his agent certainly is.
Polamalu seemed more interested in what's happening with Faneca. "He's somebody everyone on this team looks up to." Like the Steelers' other veterans, he's wary that Cowher left, that linebacker Joey Porter was released, that Faneca appears all but gone. "I think everybody is a little unsure about the direction of the team."
Don't take that the wrong way, though.
In the next breath, Polamalu said, "I think it's good that things are shaken up a little. Everybody's got to work to establish themselves again. ... There's always apprehension when there's change. I went through it at USC when coach [Pete] Carroll came in. All of us were unsure about what was going to happen. That turned out pretty well."
Carroll won big and still is winning big because of great players.
Tomlin needs great players to be successful.
The Steelers want to give their new coach a fair shot? They have to do a deal with Polamalu.

There is no doubt that Our boy Troy needs to be signed to an extension. IMO,the FO would have usually sign a guy like this before he enters the last year of his contract but I'm sure Big Al is playing a part in the Delay Factors.

"It is hard to wait around for something that you know may never happen;but it's even harder to let go when it's everything you want"
-unknown

Troy is everything you want in an NFL player on your team. He's the best in the business, period ! He's humble and a team players. He's focused on the field and gives you 100 percent every snap. He's a big reason we're able to run the defense that we do. Even in his first year in the league when he was just running around out there you could see flashes of the brilliance that was to come.

The dude needs to retire a Steeler, he's that important to us ! We've got 2 CB's that hopefully will work together for a long time to come and we've got Anothony Smith to work with Troy. We have the makings of a beastly secondary for years and years to come !

I always said from last year troy is our playmaker , leader in defence but the money his agent will want is going to be to high and i dont see the rooneys signing a deal, But if it does happend i dont belive its going to be troy who wants all the money i think its his agent who is going to **** face the steelers on this one and put us in a tough sitution and end up Free Agenting him next year i hope im wrong

What we have to hope for is that Troy has mentality of wanting to stay in Pittsburgh and play for the Rooney's even though he'll be able to go somewhere else for more money. Same as Hines did, he could have easily gotten 10-15 million more on his contract to go somewhere else but we worked it out with him. Im hoping Troy can come to a deal as well.

He's as down to earth as anybody I've ever seen so we'll see what happens but IMO we gotta resign this guy come hell or high water.